Re: [LM_NET] Should students use Wikipedia as a source?

["Patricia A. Hartye" <patricia.hartye@BRUN.K12.VA.US>]

I tell students that Wikipedia can provide a good overview of a topic, but they 
should not use any of the information without verifying it from another source. 
Then the teachers ignore me and accept it as a source.
Patricia Hartye, Librarian
J.S.Russell Middle School
Lawrenceville, VA
patricia.hartye@brun.k12.va.us
________________________________

From: School Library Media & Network Communications on behalf of Ann Ewbank
Sent: Wed 5/30/2007 11:31 AM
To: LM_NET@LISTSERV.SYR.EDU
Subject: Should students use Wikipedia as a source?



Dear Colleagues,

A few days ago I received the following communication from an 
academic librarian regarding a Webquest I created. I asked her if I 
could share her thoughts with LM_NET, as I thought she posed 
interesting questions about the use of Wkipedia and other open-source 
sites, and she consented.

Should students use Wikipedia? If so, in what contexts? The webquest 
can be found here: http://members.cox.net/adutton1/waffle.html

"Today, I was assisting my fifth grade child as she worked on your 
Everything on a Waffle WebQuest, which was assigned by her language 
arts teacher.  I was surprised to see that the first two links were 
to articles from Wikipedia.  Since this is an open source web site, 
the information is not considered reliable.  As professionals who 
encourage good academic practice, I encourage you to consider 
revising your WebQuest. The use of a source such as this, especially 
since this is used to teach children, is highly questionable.
        As I work with college students each day I tell them not to use 
Wikipedia in their research assignments.  Wikipedia itself provides a 
disclaimer about its use for scholarly purposes.  When my child had 
been assigned Wikipedia earlier in the school year, I sent a note 
warning the teacher about the perils of open source web information.  
While the WWW provides a wealth of valuable information, it must be 
used with critical assessment of the content.  It is our 
responsibility as educators to guide our students appropriately."

Ann

Ann Dutton Ewbank, Ph.D.
President, Arizona Library Association
Education Liaison Librarian
Fletcher Library
Arizona State University at the West campus
P.O. Box 37100
Phoenix, Arizona 85069-7100
602.543.8527
Fax 602.543.6500

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